Should I invest in the GTX200 series?

[Zhan]

hey guys,

I'm planning on getting a Geforce gtx 260 or 280, but I've heard that they don't support direct X 10.1, which is coming out soon or something. So my question is whether or not I should wait for a geforce video card that supports 10.1? (btw I'm not really interested in ATI)

Thanks!

[Animeniax]

What games are you playing that require or even support DX10.1? What features of DX10.1 are so important to you that you are willing to wait that long while giving up graphical mastery of other games you want to play now?

[Zhan]

I want to buy a graphics card that will last me for a long time, I don't want to purchase something worth 400 bucks just for me to find out half a year later that it can't support games because of the stupid dx 10.1. If it is true that dx10 hardware will not support dx10.1 games, if it does come out, then I'd rather wait for a dx10.1 nvidia video card. I'll still be able to play all the current games later on anyway, just that I'd prefer to play it now.

The thing is I don't know a lot about this new dx10.1 and how it will affect the future compatabilty of dx10 video cards. Will I still be able to play the 10.1 games? Will game developers actually make dx10.1 games? How important really is this dx 10.1? Do I even need to worry about it?

Radeon is making all their video cards dx10.1 compatible, which makes people like me get confused about whether I should get worked up about it at all. Just want you guys opinion.

[darkshadow]

You want a card that will last for a long time? Well then get any card that is as good as the 4870, cause if you didn't know the games industry is ruled by consoles, if you can play games that are on consoles as well, far better then their console counter parts, the card is going to last you till at least the next generation of consoles.

So just get the cheapest gtx260 you can find, which is just a tad more expensive then a 4870.

[Zhan]

yeah I know games are ruled by consoles, I'm just a PC person. Yeah thanks, I was thinking of getting the 260 as well, its a lot cheaper and its not a lot of difference in power between it and the 280.

[Xelbair]

Well i would prefer radeon, but still - it depends on the games and other things you do. also important factor is your motherboard (if you aren't changing it) - if its support SLI go with nvidia, if crossfire go with ATI. If you just want pc to play games not necessarily on Über-very-high settings(ala crysis) - get the cheaper one, ATI or Nvidia - does not matter but beware - one version of 200 series is badly made and it just doesn't work after some time.

[TwisT]

I say buy now and screw that waiting for 10.1.

I have no idea when it comes out but let's say you buy a card now that supports it, then it's released 6 months from now and maybe 9 month from now games start to popup that supports it. Well by now your graphics card will not be able to play at maximum settings anyway so you probably wont even be able to utilize the 10.1 features to the max anyways. And games made for 10.1 will always work with DX10 or even DX9.x

My old graphics card supported DX10, but when Crysis came i had to play that shit on low settings and other games with heavy graphics that supported DX10 on medium to low. Even after upgrading to a 8800GT i can only play between medium-high settings. And it just feels like i cant utilize that DX10 feature.

So the lesson i learned was that if you need a graphics upgrade just buy one. Even if it comes out a new game 6-12 months from now with wickedly awesome graphic i will still have to upgrade to a new graphics card to utilize all the big graphics feature the game supports.

[darkshadow]

Well i think crysis set the bar, and it won't be raised substantially higher any time soon ( again cause of the console centric industry ), so if your card can play crysis easily you should be fine for the next few years.
And seeing how the gtx260 and 4870 should offer around the same performance, either of those cards should prove to be a solid investment

[Shadow Skill]

Directx10.1 with graphics cards will allow you to on most games that support this, will give you Shader Model 4.0, a lot more pixels on screen, and give you the best graphics attainable for the game you want to play.

As for if 10.1 will not work with directx10.0, I find that silly since you need directx10.0 to run a graphics card with 10.1. So Vista... obviously.

Which is why I can't wait for the Expansion to Age of Conan, since I want to play it using Shader Model 4.0 and everything maxed, I do, already but Shader Model 3.0 is starting to get bland with max settings.

I havent seen a more Lush game with such detail as Age of Conan.

[animus]

Age of Conan looks great, but it's by far not the best looking game.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm waiting for a game I like that would utilize physX. It's supposed to look pretty damn good. Is physX compatible with DX9.0c?

If not, then that's a pity, but with Windows 7 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows_7) slated to come out in 2009, I don't think I'll be trying out Vista after all

[animus]

I'm waiting for Windows 7 also. Vista is too much suck for just DX10.

[darkshadow]

PhysX is just an alternative for Havok for companies that can't afford havok, why? Cause its free.
So you dx9 supports it, but you need a card that supports it aswell, like an ageia physx or nvidia 8 series+.

[Buffalobiian]

PhysX is just an alternative for Havok for companies that can't afford havok, why? Cause its free.

Hmm..too bad. I was hoping for something revolutionary.

[David75]

I'm waiting for a real leap in LCD quality... or flat panel at a reasonable cost.
By then I'll be old enough for not being interrested in GPU intensive games at all.

Since most race sims work well with midrange GPUs, I'll stick to that.
Also, I'm waiting for a trully magnificent flight sim, but FSX gave me cold shoulders...

So all in all, I'd stick with midrange graphics, dualcore, motherboard, LCD.
However i'd put money in a very good harddrive as I can't stand load times anymore.... but SSD is too expensive and not reliable enough yet.

[darkshadow]

the real leap in lcd quality? it seems i am like the only person who has been following display technology since 2005, SED and FED tv's are coming ( they shouldve been here last year but got delayed).
Basically, the are flat panel CRT displays, in other words, the perfect display technology.
Sony wanted to release some FED's early next year, like march of february, canon will release the SED's sometime later.

[David75]

the real leap in lcd quality? it seems i am like the only person who has been following display technology since 2005, SED and FED tv's are coming ( they shouldve been here last year but got delayed).
Basically, the are flat panel CRT displays, in other words, the perfect display technology.
Sony wanted to release some FED's early next year, like march of february, canon will release the SED's sometime later.

as of yet, I'd like to have something at least on par with pioneer kuro plasma quality.
The problem is that there's no plasma in the 20-24" range... and I doubt they would have the quality I want should they exist.
The other problem DPI value that is too low. So you need a big screen to have WUXGA resolutions... or a laptop. I Do not feel like havin a 24" screen at 60cm from my eyes.

For new techs, we'll have to wait and see. But really, the screens on the market are a lot of crap. It's a shame because it's such an important part of the computing experience...

[Zhan]

Thanks for the opinions guys, I bought a radeon 4870 lol. Instead of being such a geforce fanboy I actually went to research a bit on the radeon. I was impressed. It was quite a bit cheaper too so nothing to complain about...except the temperature levels get quite hot..don't know if I should worry about that..

[Animeniax]

What are you going to do for product support when AMD goes out of business?

[Buffalobiian]

Thanks for the opinions guys, I bought a radeon 4870 lol. Instead of being such a geforce fanboy I actually went to research a bit on the radeon. I was impressed. It was quite a bit cheaper too so nothing to complain about...except the temperature levels get quite hot..don't know if I should worry about that..

It's a worry if:

A) You're trying to overclock it

B) Your case has CRAP ALL circulation.

If not, it's fine.

(btw, bad circulation would be like 1 exhaust fan, and a fanless PSU.

[Xelbair]

it is fine - 4780 gets really hot, but my 3780 is really cool(50 C at hight at cryssis(in winter -5 outside))